The overall objective of this SPORE Immunodeficient Rodent laboratory Animal Core is to facilitate preclinical research in human lung cancer through the use of orthotopic cancer cell and tissue transplants (xenografts) in animal models. This shared resource will provide purchase, production breeding of and maintenance for specific pathogen-free, barrier- sustained, conventional, and severe-combined-immunodeficient (SCID) mice and athymic nude rats and mice for use by SPORE investigators in research projects in this program. This CORE will also provide gross and histopathology services, transgenic animal services, cancer will inoculation transfers, and harvests and animal model preparations for all program investigators using animal models. This CORE will maintain production colonies of pneumocystis carinii-free athymic nude rats and SCID mice in order to provide the necessary pulmonary disease-free animals required for these lung cancer studies. Animal studies supported by this CORE are focused on the primary SPORE Program objective which is to decrease incidence and mortality from lung cancer by discovery of cellular and molecular events involved in the progression of lung cancer and the translation of these discoveries into clinical applications.